How to Use Dealed or Dealt? (Irregular Verb Forms)

August 4, 2025

5 min read

By Yash, D

To deal (simple present tense), dealt (simple past) have/has/had dealt (past participle).

How to Use Dealed or Dealt? (Irregular Verb Forms)

What’s the past tense of “deal”?

Did you deal the deck of cards, or were the cards dealt by you? Or is that the same sentence spun differently? The question: what’s the past tense of the present tense verb deal?

👍🏼Usage Note

✓
He dealt with the difficult customer yesterday.

✗
They deal a major blow to their rivals last week.

Forms of the verb deal

To start with the definition, deal is a verb with a few meanings; one of which is as understood as, “if you make a deal, do a deal, or cut a deal, you complete an agreement or an arrangement with someone, especially in business”. Also, “if you deal playing cards, you give them out to the players in a game of cards.” (Collins Dictionary, deal).

	Present	Past	Future
simple	I deal	I dealt	I will deal
continuous	I am dealing	I was dealing	I will be dealing
perfect	I have dealt	I had dealt	I will have dealt
perfect continuous	I have been dealing	I had been dealing	I will have been dealing

Is deal a regular or irregular verb?

The verb deal is irregular. Its past tense form is dealt, not dealed. Here’s a chart with verb forms similar to deal/dealt, in that they likewise have one past tense and past participle form (and are irregular verbs that do not end in “-ed”):

Base Verb	Past Tense	Past Participle
sleep	slept	slept
feel	felt	felt
kneel	knelt	knelt
build	built	built

Deal/Dealt in sentence examples

Compare these sentences to understand the difference between dealt as a simple past tense and as a past participle:

Word Form	Examples
Present Tense (“deal”)	Whose turn is it to deal? Start by dealing out ten cards to each player. Who’s going to deal with this mess?
Simple Past (“dealt”)	He dealt me two aces. She dealt out three sandwiches apiece. Her sudden death dealt a blow to the whole country.
Past Participle (“dealt”)	It’s already been dealt with. I’ve dealt with things alright since the pandemic. The situation had already been dealt with when I arrived.

💡Study Tip

Deal/dealt follows the same irregular pattern as feel/felt.

Synonyms of “deal”

Synonym	Phrase with “deal”
arrangement	They made an arrangement/deal with the new supplier.
agreement	We reached an agreement/deal after hours of negotiation.
contract	The contract/deal was signed yesterday.
transaction	The transaction/deal went smoothly.
pact	They formed a pact/deal to support each other.
negotiation	The negotiation/deal took several weeks.

Origin of the verb deal

Of Germanic Origin
Old English dǣlan, from dǣl a part; compare Old High German teil a part, Old Norse deild a share.

Worksheet: dealed or dealt

FAQs

Q: What is the past tense form of the verb “deal”?
A: The past tense form of the verb “deal” is “dealt”. It follows an irregular pattern similar to “feel” and “felt”. For example, “He dealt with the difficult customer yesterday.”

Q: How is ‘dealt’ used as a past participle?
A: ‘Dealt’ is used as a past participle with auxiliary verbs in perfect tenses and the passive voice. Examples include: “The poker chips were dealt out” (passive) or “She has dealt with that situation.”

Q: What are common errors using ‘deal’ and ‘dealt’?
A: Common errors include using the base form ‘deal’ for the simple past (“They deal a blow” – incorrect) or using the base form instead of ‘dealt’ for the past participle in perfect tenses (“She has dealt with that situation” is correct).

Q: Does ‘deal’ follow a regular verb pattern?
A: No, the verb ‘deal’ is irregular. Its past tense and past participle forms are ‘dealt’, not ‘dealed’. It follows the same irregular pattern as verbs like ‘feel’, which becomes ‘felt’.

Q: Can ‘dealt’ be used for simple past tense?
A: Yes, ‘dealt’ is the simple past tense form of ‘deal’. You use it for actions completed in the past. For instance, the post gives the example: “She dealt us three sandwiches apiece.”